Halo 2

Halo 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Bungie and the sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. The campaign alternates between two playable characters: the human supersoldier Master Chief and the Covenant…

81 9 November 2004

Shooter Action Science fiction Warfare

Halo 2 is a shooter developed by Bungie, released 9 November 2004 on Xbox One, Xbox and PC (Microsoft Windows). The main story takes about 11 hrs to finish.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Halo 2 is

Halo 2 is a shooter game developed by Bungie and released in 2004. It was published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is available on Xbox One, Xbox and PC (Microsoft Windows). It runs on Halo 2.

The premise, in the publisher's words

In the 26th century, the Covenant, a powerful alliance of alien races, launches a surprise attack on Earth. Master Chief defends the planet's orbital stations before pursuing the Covenant fleet to a second Halo installation. Meanwhile, a disgraced Covenant Elite commander is branded a heretic for failing to prevent the first Halo's destruction and given the suicidal rank of Arbiter. As both warriors pursue their separate missions, they uncover a brewing civil war within the Covenant and a parasitic threat that endangers all sides.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a first person perspective. Its themes are action, science fiction and warfare. It supports multiplayer for up to 16 players online, and includes co-op. Local play supports 4 players. Available modes: Co-operative, Multiplayer, Single player and Split screen.

Where it sits in the Halo series

Halo 2 is the third of 55 entries we hold in the Halo series. It arrived 8 months after Halo: Custom Edition. The next entry was Halo 2: Limited Collector's Edition in 2004. Its critic score of 81 is almost exactly the series average of 81. The highest-rated entry is Halo 3 at 91.

See all 55 Halo games in release order →

How it was received

Halo 2 holds a critic score of 81 out of 100. That places it above 77% of the 3,305 rated shooter games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2004 averaged 70, so it scored 11 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 82, across 698 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 11 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 17.5 hrs, roughly 1.6 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

Halo 2 launched on 9 November 2004, within three weeks of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and World of Warcraft. It reviewed better than 1 of the 4. It was a Xbox One launch-window title.

Released around the same time: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, World of Warcraft.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Halo 2 yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

Know one? Send it in and we will test it →